"I’ve never been in this position before" - Derek Gee shocks and drops Evenepoel on Dauphine summit finish

Derek Gee broke through the screens and the hearts of many cycling fans last year at the Giro d'Italia, failing to win a stage but finishing second on four different occasions, all of them through breakaways. The Canadian is on the form of his life and after winning a stage at the Criterium du Dauphiné earlier this week, he was even more impressive today in the first mountain stage of the race.

“I’ve never been in this position before, looking around and seeing all these big names in a small group. That was pretty surreal,” Gee said in a post-race interview. “I couldn’t match all the attacks, but I still had a little bit of a kick at the end, and I’m very happy about that! Honestly, I’m really surprised at how today went. It was an unbelievable day out once again.”

Gee looked quite good in the ascent to the Collet d'Allevard, as he attempeted to defend his fourth place in the overall classification. After winning stage 3, he had already succeeded in making this race a success for Israel - Premier Tech. He defended himself well in the time-trial, but today he even went on the attack. Weighing in 75Kg (as he himself confirmed), it is rare to see such a rider performing on such a steep and long ascent as today's. Gee is a special rider and matched the first few attacks from the GC group, something not even Remco Evenepoel could.

But he did not go into the defensive; after having created the gap, the Canadian spent long minutes at the head of the group that included Primoz Roglic. At the end, he was also the strongest outside of the winning trio which went up the road with 1.5 kilometers to go. This stunning performance sees him keep his fourth place, but only three seconds behind Matteo Jorgenson who is third in the GC.

“I think now, after this first test, I can just try to see how the next two days go and hopefully get a good result in the general classification," he concluded.